There are products in the grocery store that make me shake my head, and wonder why. Gallons of un-sweetened tea is a product I just don’t understand.
Some things are so simple to make, tea, even iced tea would be an example of a product that is very simple to make. To make tea you need some tea, boiling water, and 2 minutes for the tea to steep. You can even purchase cold tea bags that you don’t even need to boil water, and then let the tea steep. I know people that purchase pre-made tea on a regular basis, and I can’t help to ask them why.
There really are advantages to making your own tea, if you like it stronger, you will add an extra bag or two to the water as it steeps to make it extra strong. Maybe you like tea that isn’t so strong so you would add some additional water to the tea to make it less strong. By making your own tea you are drinking tea that hasn’t been made shelf stable with preservatives to keep it from fermenting. It also costs pennies, yes, pennies to make your own tea at home.
I understand that sometimes you may have a picnic and you may want to bring a gallon or two of this pre-made iced tea. I understand that if you are going to a pot luck dinner you may want to bring this to drink. Why would you buy this as a regular grocery store item? I want to cry out to people, please, make some iced tea, it isn’t difficult to do.
How to make Iced Tea
2 cups of boiling water
1 2 quart picture filled with ice
2 to 4 regular sized tea bags
Place tea bags into the 2 cups of boiling water, and allow to steep for 2 minutes. When tea is done steeping, remove bags, and pour tea over ice.
Folks, that’s it. You may make your tea differently, the folks at TeaGschwendner told me to make iced tea like this about 2 years ago, and I found that my tea tastes best when made like this. I also like to use loose tea when I can, but honestly plain old bags of Liptons, Tetley, or any other brand of tea bag is far superior to what you can buy in a plastic jug.
I am sure I will continue to roll my eyes when friends of mine purchase these jugs of swill. We will continue to have this conversation, I will offer to make them tea, and I will be turned down. If you have never made tea before, please, please give it a try, I promise, it is cheaper, and tastes better to make your own fresh tea.
That’s right, I am in Texas 
So for some of these uses, I have purchased containers that keep beverages cool, and brought tea in them I do a fair amount of cooking for large groups and I just buy the cold tea bags, and pop them into containers, this works very well. But I understand, busy moms, and other busy people sometimes buy pre-made tea. Re-useable thermos bottles, and those cold tea bags do wonders, no steeping needed.
I must say, I totally agree with you, but I have to share my reasoning for buying this pre-made tea. I think my #1 reason is that I like the diet tea containing Splenda, and Splenda is so expensive in the package (about $6/pack) that I hate using the quantity needed to sweeten a pitcher of tea because I think it is costing so much to do so! Okay, now I know that’s illogical. If a gallon of premade Splenda-sweetened tea is $1.99, to make my purchase worth it, I would need to spend less than $2 to sweeten my own gallon of homemade-tea. Since I have not tried this (ah, laziness is the real reason here!), I don’t know how much Splenda a gallon of tea would require and am not sure about the cost, but I’d be willing to bet it would be under $2 (thus, confirming your point!)
Another reason I like to buy the tea is that I am truly so busy (major work at my job right now,3 kids and a husband) that I just love the convenience. And I reason that, since tea is a good antioxidant, and since I won’t make it and thus won’t be drinking it unless I buy it, that buying it is a good idea.
Now, I could have made a fresh gallon of tea instead of writing this, couldn’t I? But it was fun, and what’s life without a bit of play and reading about the best recipes out there?! 
Happy New Year!
Your title made me smile and I had to leave a comment. My mom is from Georgia and my siblings and I all grew up on “Sweet Tea”. My brother and I agree that the best cup is that first warm glass of freshly made tea before it has cooled off.
Yet, I married a man who prefers tea without sugar! He learned to make sweet tea just for me That’s true love!
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